Korean Potato Cheese Pancake with Additional Touch of Dried Seaweed Flakes

It's a bit like Japanese cheese korokke but without the flaky crumbs, so perhaps more so a "naked" cheese korokke?

Korean potato cheese pancake with additional touch of dried seaweed flakes - 

Ingredients (about 6 pancakes)?

• 4 medium potatoes
• 125 grams mixed shredded cheese
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons potato starch
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried seaweed flakes
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• Some salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

How?

Peel and cut the potatoes to medium chunks.

Prepare a pot of water and add in the potato chunks. Bring the water to a boil then lower the heat a little while still keeping the pot at a medium boiling stage. Cook till the potato chunks can be easily poked through by a chopstick, mine took about 20 minutes.

Once the potatoes are ready, drain out the water and let the steam escape a little longer.

Transfer drained potatoes to a big bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, 1 1/2 tablespoons of dried seaweed flakes, and 4 tablespoons of potato starch. Mash till evenly blended and no more potato chunks throughout.

Taste and see if more salt if needed. I actually added 1/4 more teaspoon of salt in the end. 

It's roughly 1 tablespoon of potato starch per medium/medium small sized potato. However, this might yield a fluffier pancake in the end. So remember to feel the potato mash and adjust the firmness with potato starch.

Pick up about a big palmful of mashed potato and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball a bit and add some mixed shredded cheese in the center, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Take more mashed potato and cover the cheese filling. Seal the openings and form into a fat pancake with some thickness, make sure no cracks here and there.

Repeat till all mashed potatoes have turned into pancakes. Mine ended up with six pancakes.

Drizzle 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a non-stick pan and switch to medium heat. Wait till the surface gets hot, carefully transfer the pancakes to the pan and leave some space in between. Cook in two batches if the pan is too small.

Sear till the bottom turns golden brown. Flip and sear the other side till golden brown again.

Remove the pancakes to serving plate. I love to enjoy the pancakes when they're still hot in order to get the full oozing cheese effect in the center. 

You can adjust the "firmness" of these cheesy potato pancakes. As you can tell from the pictures, I made these pancakes on the loose fluffy side. If you add more potato starch then you'll have a firmer result.

In fact, the ones you see in Korea are almost like a puffy buns, you can easily hold up the pancakes and eat by hand. If that's preferred, I would say use 1 1/2 tablespoons of potato starch per medium/medium small sized potato instead of 1.

Other oozing cheese recipes:

• Cheesy garlic bread
• Shiso and cheese stuffed tofu in Japanese seasonings

Big Big Servings of Chicken Orzo Soup

I got too greedy again and ended up with a giant pot of chicken orzo soup. So if you're trying to find a one pot recipe to feed a big family, this is it. No need to look somewhere else, I promise this recipe will be be enough to feed even ten people at once.

Chicken orzo soup - 

Ingredients (about 8 big bowls)?

• 1 pack/500 grams orzo
• 2 big pieces chicken breasts
• 1 big onion
• 1 big stalk celery
• 1 large carrot
• 1 lemon
• 1 small bundle flat leaf parsley
• 1 box baby salad greens
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Basically just the so called mirepoix so destem and cube the celery, peel and cube the carrot, peel and cube the onion. As for other ingredients, peel and chop the garlic cloves, finely chop the parsley.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a big pot, I used a Dutch oven. Switch to medium heat and wait till warm up a bit. Add in chopped celery, carrot, and onion. Also add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

Mix once a while and cook for about 10 minutes. Then add in chopped garlics. Continue to cook for couple more minutes.

Pour in 8 cups of chicken stock plus 4 cups of water. Also add 2 bay leaves. Turn up the heat a little.

Add in whole chicken breasts and cook in slightly bubbling stock till fully cooked through. Remove the meat from the pot and wait till cool down a little. Use a fork to shred the chicken.

As for the soup, add in orzo after removing the chicken breasts. Use medium heat and cook till the orzo reaches desired texture. Mine took about 10 minutes.

Grate in the zest of one lemon then squeeze in half of the lemon juice. You can use whole lemon juice depending on taste preference.

Add the baby salad greens, also add the shredded chicken back to the pot. Just a quick mix, the leafy greens should be wilted pretty fast. Taste and adjust with any seasonings if needed. I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt here.

Once flavor has been checked. If you can find the bay leaves, pick them out. Add in half of the chopped parsley and give the soup and quick stir.

Scoop the chicken orzo soup to serving bowls and garnish with some of the remaining chopped parsley. You can also crack more black pepper on top for additional spicy note.

If you can't find baby salad greens, any sort of soft leafy greens or even tender peas will do. I simply add the leafy greens for nutritional values, nothing else. 

By the way, if you happen to have leftovers, remember the orzo might continue to soak in the stock. That means you might have to pour in more chicken stock during the reheating process. 

I personally don't mind eating not as soupy orzo soup. In fact, I actually enjoyed the leftover chicken orzo soup without any additional liquid. I even paired that with spicy sausages on the side, like one extra side dish to enjoy together.

Extended reading:

• Dairy-free chorizo and colorful bell pepper orzo